


A Diplomatic Incident

by WaterlilyRose



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, F/M, Forbidden Love, Force Visions, Jedi Rey, Jedi and Senator, Senator Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 08:26:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13477578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaterlilyRose/pseuds/WaterlilyRose
Summary: Rey is tasked with keeping renowned Senator and son of Leia Organa, Ben Solo, safe from harm. She is meant to keep herself distant, ever present and unobtrusive.There is no passion; only peace. Apparently...





	A Diplomatic Incident

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one-shot I found on my computer that I felt I may as well finish. My writing is really not great right now as my concentration is terrible and my ideas are non-existent. So this is just an exercise of getting something out there.
> 
> Hope it's not terrible.

It was one of the most beautiful suites in Coruscant; the colours of purple, navy and deep blue were primary in the rooms that had been assigned to them yet it was the view of the city at night that held the most sway over Rey. Lavish furnishings and sumptuous surroundings were as nothing to the sight of the city going on around them. Life as a Jedi meant you must find the beauty in that which was without price and possession; and not one person owned the night.

 

The chamber in which she stood was the plainest in the apartment. It had a bed, a fresher and a table; a wardrobe wasn’t necessary as she only had a few clothes and the majority were now upon her back. This did not upset or bother Rey as she was used to living on the absolute necessities even before she was discovered to be a Force user. At least they fed you on something other than powder here.

 

Rey had been standing at her window for nearly two hours. She spent the first hour meditating and the second hour trying to kill time. It was getting late – maybe if she just stayed in here for long enough he would go to bed and not expect her to join him for dinner. He wouldn’t dispose of the food; he was sullen at times but never cruel to her and he knew what food meant to her.

 

But every time she reached out through the Force she could sense him. Still awake. Stressed and exhausted but awake. Damn.

 

Rey sat down on her single bed and sighed. This was not her first assignment but it was her first truly important one. She still had a status of a Padawan under Luke Skywalker but the apprentice of the last true Jedi gave her certain prestige. So when it became apparent that General Organa was in need of protection for her only child and Luke’s own nephew, Rey seemed like the obvious and only suitable choice. Force alone knows, that Luke wasn’t up to the task of following his sister’s son around the Galaxy – he wasn’t as young as he had been and Ben Organa-Solo wasn’t particularly fond of his Uncle anyway.

 

The Alderaan Princess’ son didn’t seem to be fond of anyone actually. When he came face-to-face with his assigned protector, ‘outraged’ wouldn’t be too far from his reaction.

 

“You expect this… this… _child_ to protect me?!” He’d spat at his mother who stood beside Rey utterly composed as thoughthese outbursts happened at least three times a day in her world.

 

“She is trained in the ways of the Force and is the only one capable of protecting you. It is good of your Uncle to be willing to let his Padawan help protect you.”

 

“Our entire family are born with the Force, Mother! I can protect myself.”

 

“There have been too many close calls for me to be happy with that anymore Ben. I’m not willing to bet your safety on our familial reflexes.”

 

Ben Organa-Solo submitted with the least amount of good grace possible. For the first two weeks of her task, any chair that Rey was sat in, he would pretend would be empty. When he did acknowledge her, it was more of a sneer than anything else.

 

This gave Rey a lot of time to scrutinize him. He was older than her by nearly a decade even if he insisted on acting like a child. He was a very tall man with broad shoulders and a strong body. His robes of purple, burgundy and midnight blue were long and flowing yet did nothing to cover his evident strength. He was not like any other politician that she had come across; he wore the signature Naboo fashions but refused the elaborate hair-beads and painted pallor that many wore with such aplomb. It was a shame that he did not let the paint touch his lips as he had rather plump lips. Though Rey conceded that he was pale enough and his cheekbones didn’t need any help to become more prominent. It would have also been a shame to cover his many moles and freckles too.

 

Rey meditated for three solid hours for these thoughts. They were beneath her.

 

But then there was that day at the Senate. He’d been a bit too outspoken about an opposition to a proposal made by an enemy of the Republic. Rey had mused how despite his obvious contempt for the cause he was affiliated to thanks to his mother’s allegiance, he was ardent in his vehemence when he saw something he didn’t like. If the opposition were suggesting something that he saw as wrong or potentially inhumane, the Republic or the Resistance (whatever you wanted to call them – it was all the same to Rey) had gained their greatest ally. If the Resistance/ Republic were too tame in their methods then Leia had to send him away for a time. Naboo was often the temporary home of the furious politician.

 

On this occasion, he was the best defence for his mother’s cause – and nearly lost his life in the process.

 

They were leaving the Senate when Rey had sensed it. It was a corrosive kind of energy which was directed all at Ben. She felt the rage, the determination and vengeance that was aimed at Ben’s back.

 

Her double ended yellow sabre had ignited in time to deflect the blast shot but her determination to push Ben out of the way had caused her reflexes to slow and she had grunted as the would-be assassin managed a glancing blow at her arm. She barely noticed while she immobilised the assassin with the Force.

 

It was only when the body of the Bounty Hunter was carried away like something unseemly that she felt oddly gentle fingers on her injured arm. She hissed as a long finger touched her bleeding bicep.

 

“You’re hurt.”

 

Rey looked down at the fingers near her wound. The long, thick fingers had scooped up a drop of blood that her arm was weeping and it was displayed to her as though to show her evidence of her injury. Rey almost shrugged – she’d endured worse blows – but looking up at the Senator whom she had just saved stopped her. He was a foot taller than her but looked in that moment like a small boy. He was confused and winded – he’d felt the disturbance too in the Force but wasn’t trained in how to deal with it as quickly as her. The sight of her injured disturbed him, she realised. She didn’t need the Force to sense it though – his face was contorted in a way that made it clear.

 

Rey was shown onto his shuttle and made to sit down. To her utter amazement, a service droid didn’t tend to her but Ben did himself. His usually sullen features was woven into concentration as he gently – too gently – cleaned her wound and applied bacta to it. It wasn’t as precise as the medi-droids would have been but Rey didn’t have the heart to tell him. Indeed, it was nice to have human hands care for her for once.

 

After that, there was definite change in his demeanour. He wasn’t as churlish to her any longer and was even indignant when she appeared at his side to protect him as normal.

 

“Surely you get a day off for injuries?” He’d practically spluttered.

 

“My job is you. I have to keep you protected. Besides we Jedi don’t get days off. Much less sick days.”

 

He hadn’t seemed too happy with that and made his mother much more at ease by taking the day to go through paperwork. Ben hated admin but it was indoors and if Rey had to sit on a sofa and just watch him all day as result… well, Rey couldn’t honestly say it was a hardship.

 

He started to be more gentle towards her. Just his manner of speaking became softer and his deep voice, so booming and furious in his passion at the Senate, became smooth as velvet when he turned to speak to her. He’d offer his hand when she was climbing out of a speeder or a boat and Rey would jerk involuntarily at the touch of his skin on hers. A spark shot through her every time and she was filled with warmth and scenes would fill her head that she didn’t understand. Scenes of the lakes of Naboo with little houses, ripe fruits and blooming flowers all around. Laughter that was light and childish.

 

_Mama, look at me!_

 

Rey would rip her hand away as quickly as she could and avoid his eyes for the rest of the day.

 

Ben was nothing if not persistent though. He kept offering her things like the biggest cut of meat at dinner and filled his otherwise sterile apartment in Coruscant with blooms that made her heart twist. Rey was grateful for her Jedi garb and attire being mandatory to their status so he would not offer her gowns made of silk with jewelled busts.

 

Rey was beginning to miss the days when he would ignore her and she would deem him a child. But there was still a part of her that no meditation could stifle that yearned for those moments and everything in between. When they would return home from the Senate and he would pour himself a glass of Corellian brandy (she always had water – she needed to be always alert). When they would sit on the sofa and he would complain about the politicians that annoyed him and his hopes for the future. His open, expressive face showed his emotions so well and only seemed to calm when they were alone.

 

Rey could not help but begin to question the General’s judgement. Ben would never have been serene enough to become a Jedi. If he was trained in the Force he was so passionate that there was a very good chance he would have fallen to the Dark Side. But making him a diplomat seemed almost idiotic. He wasn’t balanced – far from it. He got angry far too easily and let his passions rule him. Where was a man like that meant to belong?

 

 _Not here_ – the traitorous voice in her head always seemed to answer.

 

His parents were separated and Han Solo was who knows where. Ben would not talk of his father and things tended to blow themselves up when he was mentioned. Rey knew all about abandonment and learnt not to mention him if possible.

 

Yet the pull of her feelings were beginning to mottle her judgement and Rey spent longer than necessary in her little room. It was unprofessional and not what she had been recruited for but she was beginning to question her ability for professionalism when she was around Ben. The lines, so clearly drawn throughout her training, were beginning to grow dull to her eyes and she began to want to touch his bare skin again. If taking his hand would give her such beautiful images, what would touching his cheek gift her.

 

His hair.

 

His body...

 

 _Trouble and disgrace, that’s what!_ was all Rey could chant to herself over and over again.

 

It led to her current predicament – waiting for him to go to bed.

 

Eventually her growling belly was more persistent than her scruples and, knowing that she would meet him in the apartment, she left her room to go and get her dinner.

 

As predicted, Ben was sat on the sofa perusing a holo-book when she tiptoed in. The book was promptly shut and discarded at the sight of her and he stood up abruptly as though she was someone of importance. He was wearing his grey robes today with his hair unbraided and any semblance of decoration removed from himself.

 

“There you are – dinner’s ready.” He sounded oddly earnest, shy and nervous. Rey knew that if she could sense him through the wall then he would have known her own indecision to join him.

 

Rey nodded and followed him cautiously to the dining room.

 

She was both saddened and annoyed to see that Ben had refrained from eating too.

 

“You should have just eaten your dinner without me.”

 

Ben looked at her in confusion. “But we always eat together.”

 

The comment was so simple yet so loaded that Rey couldn’t answer. She simply took her seat – him at the head of the table and her at his side. She’d tried to sit down the other end before; it hadn’t ended well.

 

The food smelt delicious – chicken with mixed vegetables. It was still piping hot and moist so Rey didn’t feel too bad for keeping Ben away from his meal. She hoped that her own eager eating might deter him from making conversation (which it did) but she could feel his eyes on her. Whenever she looked up though he would quickly look back down at his own dinner. His table manners were so refined; he’d been raised as a de-facto prince and always seemed to throw light on her own pitiful start in life. It was at times like these when she would feel dubious of her feelings – how could a man who had the blood of royals care for a skinny scavenger rat?

 

If only his eyes didn’t tell her so much more.

 

They finished their dinner and Rey would have happily retired to her room when Ben asked her to sit down next to him on the sofa. Rey’s mind screamed ‘Abort! Abort!’ yet she slowly sank down next to him. Even though there was a respectable distance between them, she could smell his musky scent. It made her press her thigh more tightly together.

 

“What is it?” Rey asked quietly.

 

“I wanted to discuss something with you.” Ben explained in his soft voice that was reserved only for her.

 

“Go on.”

 

Ben took a breath. “I’m leaving the Senate.”

 

Rey sat up straighter. She had been prepared for many things but that wasn’t one of them.

 

“I’m sorry?” For surely Rey had misheard.

 

“I’m leaving the Senate. I don’t belong there; I’m not suited to diplomacy. I’m too angry and I don't have balance. Plus I’m sick of it – I’m sick of living in my mother’s shadow and having my achievements stacked up to a measuring stick. I was robbed of my chance to be a Jedi and study the Force but this isn’t what I wanted. I’m nearly thirty and… I want to choose my own life.” He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up beautifully. “In a week, there’s a ship heading to Naboo. I can live quietly there and maybe find a new calling.”

 

Rey blinked in amazement and a sinking feeling started to form in her stomach. He was leaving… so she wouldn’t be needed anymore. She would be sent back to Luke and possibly never see Ben again.

 

There is no passion… only peace.

 

Bollocks!

 

Rey’s hands were suddenly taken by Ben and her head was once again flooded with images. Images of that beautiful landscape and the giggling rang in her ears. Suddenly she couldn’t just hear but also see the children.

 

They were beautiful, dark haired and hers. She felt it as strongly as she felt her own heart beat.

 

Rey ripped herself from the image and would have withdrawn her hands but Ben’s grip was insistent. His eyes were wide and bright.

 

“You saw it too.” His voice rasped. “Your future... it lies with me.” One hand came up to touch her cheek. Rey couldn’t move and she didn’t honestly want to. “Come with me.”

 

“What?”

 

“Come with me to Naboo. Let’s just leave all this behind like we want to.”

 

Rey suddenly regained her strength and tore her hands away. She staggered to her feet and put as much distance as she could bare between herself and Ben.

 

“I’m a Jedi. I live by the code. Jedi don’t get married or run off to Naboo on a whim!”

 

“This isn’t a whim!” Ben jumped to his feet. “I feel something with you… something so powerful I can’t sleep without you being close by.” Ben took a step forward. “Tell me that you don’t feel that. Tell me you don’t feel this connection between us.”

 

“I… I am bound by the-”

“Fuck the code! You feel this too! Don’t you?”

 

“Ben...” Rey couldn’t think of an argument. Because it was true – she did feel this. She felt it so strongly that sometimes she felt she couldn’t breathe.

 

Ben took two strides forward and caught hold of Rey. His hand was upon her cheek again and in the same breath attached his lips to her own.

 

Rey did nothing but sank into the warmth of his body as her head swam. She’d never been kissed before, having dedicated her entire life to the Jedi Academy, and from the unpractised manner that Ben’s lips moved against her own, he was no master of the art either. But it just made everything better for Rey. To know she was not one of many helped her brain quieten.

 

He tasted divine and nothing had ever felt as good as his one hand on her back and the other cradling her neck. She’d had dreams about this. Sweet beautiful dreams that had taken the place of his childish dreams of her parents coming back for her. In both though, she experienced the sensation of a home. Belonging.

 

Their lips finally parted when the need to gulp in air became too much for even their desire. Ben’s eyes looked glassy like he’d received a blow to the head and his cheeks were pink. He looked almost drunk on the moment they had shared and Rey could not look away from him. From the man who had stolen her first kiss.

 

Kiss… she’d just kissed the man she was bound to protect. She had broken her vows in the most treacherous way.

 

Backing away abruptly, she touched her lips as though the imprint of Ben’s lips could be rubbed off. But she didn’t rub; she could only touch. She would only ever touch.

 

“Rey?”

 

The Jedi felt herself begin to shake. “No...” She whispered. “I… I can’t!”

 

Ben’s face contorted as though she’d just slapped him and then hardened.

 

“We just did.”

 

They had, hadn’t they? And she couldn’t deny it. To Luke, to Leia or even herself.

 

She wasn’t a coward but she was as out of her depth here as Ben was in the diplomatic arena. With a moan of despair, she turned and ran to her room.

 

Shutting the door did not shut out Ben’s feelings of betrayal or rejection. Nor did it shut out the sound of glass shattering as he threw his decanter of brandy at a wall.

 

* * *

 

The lights of Coruscant did not dim with the need to sleep. In the depth of darkness, the city came alive with the seedy and the decadent. Rey’s own itching eyes were not taken into consideration. Not that she could sleep anyway.

 

She lay beneath the coverlet on her single bed and marvelled for the first time in how narrow it was. She’d slept on dirt, hammocks and floors of stone many a times that the softness irked her rather than lulled her buzzing mind to sleep.

 

She would have to depart these apartments soon. May have to leave Coruscant altogether. Would have to leave behind Ben.

 

She closed her eyes tightly and willing her eyes to stop watering even as the tear trails dripped over her nose and into her hairline.

 

_There is no passion; only peace. This is no passion; only peace. There is no- Oh, who are you kidding?_

 

The idea of returning to her life of duty no longer filled her with pride. Instead she only felt rising despair. This had become her home – with Ben. Dinner with Ben, walking to the Senate together and letting him talk of his day while he encouraged her to talk of herself. Luke had never asked about her own day – it simply didn’t occur to him.

 

Could she go back to a life of pure duty? Could she let those images go unexplored?

 

Almost without permission, she pulled back the duvet and set her feet upon the floor. The carpet tickled her bare toe as she padded quietly across the room. At first, when she opens her door into the dark apartment, she reasons that she just needs a little water from the kitchen. But her feet don’t take her towards the kitchen; she headed towards Ben’s bedroom.

 

She pressed her hand to the door of his room. She knew the code to it; as his bodyguard she had to have immediate access to her charge. But for the first time, she hesitated. What was she doing? Why was she doing it? She didn’t even know what it all meant.

 

Rey opened the door with a mere flick of the Force coursing through her.

 

Ben’s room was dark and devoid of decoration. While she knew this minimalist style was popular in these glamorous parts of the city, she doubted that the Senator was interested in following fashions. No decorations were displayed because he had none to show. The first thing that caught her eye was the size of his bed. It was luxurious and large as befitted his status.

 

Just as her bed had seemed too narrow, his now appeared too big.

 

If she was having difficulty sleeping, Rey should have suspected that he would not have got a wink of rest. It shouldn’t have been any surprise to her then, with all her Force sensitivity, when he sat up abruptly in bed.

 

He didn’t wear a shirt in bed. His chest was bare and Rey could only blink as the shining moon through the blinds made him look like marble.

 

He was vulnerable to attack and beautiful in his wretchedness.

 

“What do you want?” Ben asks. There is a hint of steel in his tone – he’d laid bare his heart to her and she had run to her room like a green girl of eight. Yet his voice cannot quite carry off his defiance when his face looks so winded and his eyes so mournful.

 

“I… I don’t know.” Rey answered honestly. “It just felt that the answer would be here.”

 

Ben looked at her under heavily lidded eyes. It seemed he wasn’t sure whether to accuse her of making fun of him or not. Seconds that felt like hours passed before her when Ben reached for a corner of the duvet and pull it back exposing the mattress.

 

“Come to bed Rey.”

 

And, despite her scruples, she slowly approached.

 

If the bed she had left behind had been too soft for her, it was nothing in comparison to the indescribable weightlessness she felt as she sank awkwardly into the space provided. The smell of Ben was now all consuming where his head had rested upon her pillow for so many nights until he was as much a part of the bed as the sheets were. Her body was vibrating yet she felt more safe than she had ever been before.

 

They lay side by side, facing one another, but Ben did not move forward. They were motionless in that too big bed, content to stare at the other’s face for endless silent minutes.

 

Maybe Rey managed a few moments rest because when she felt Ben’s lips on her own again, it was like waking from a dream. Or stepping into one. She wasn’t sure which.

 

Rey had been used to taking the lead in fighting for her place in the world for so long that it was odd to surrender in this. Yet surrender she did. She let Ben roll almost onto her, pinning her between his hard torso and the ridiculously plump mattress and continued to let him kiss her. His hand cupped her chin and his lips massaged her own in a way that felt dizzying and addictive. She could not stop herself from sliding her hands up his back. There were muscles beneath his soft skin.

 

He was truly wasted as a senator.

 

She lost count of time and how long they lay within each other’s arms just kissing. It could have been hours. Or seconds. There was no way of knowing. All she knew was this felt right.

 

When their hands grew bold and strips of her nightclothes began to litter the floor, it was always with a look of query from Ben.

 

_Is this okay? Am I allowed to do this?_

 

She gave so many nods that her neck began to develop an ache.

 

Rey had never had much of a vain approach to her body. Growing up as an abandoned baby on Jakku, every quarter portion was another day’s survival. If her ribs stuck out when she breathed in, that was hardly here nor there. At the Academy, after being scouted out as a Force Sensitive, her portions tripled and she lived off a Spartan lifestyle of fish and blue milk. Hardly exotic but every bite was appreciated for the underfed teen. Her body became a source of power. A vehicle to defeat an enemy. She’d had as little time to contemplate her bum and her freckles as ever.

 

Since coming to Coruscant, Rey had witnessed the city’s ideals of beauty. And it was definitely not her. Women wore jewels in their hair, dresses so elaborate that they must have taken hours to get ready and corsets that showed Rey that her boyish figure was never going to be prized amongst the elite.

 

She took a deep breath and waited for Ben’s judgement as her undergarments were slipped off her body. She was prepared for the disappointment; even the rejection.

 

Instead, he let out a stuttering breath and his eyes seemed to rove all over her exposed body. Over her cupcake sized breasts, her torso that had gained more muscle than was warranted, the neat strip of hair over her womanhood which she had not had the heart to shave bare and the smattering of scars and freckles that littered her body.

 

“Perfect.” He whispered as he bent his head and kissed her bellybutton. “Utterly completely perfect.”

 

Rey released the breath she were holding.

 

Now it were his turn. Wearing only a pair of sleep pants, he seemed as anxious as she had been. Rey therefore did not push him. She let him put his thumbs in his waistband and slowly lowered them.

 

His cock had been swollen and upright since they had begun to kiss and Rey had felt a thrill of pleasure as she felt it rub against her thigh. It had felt almost too big to be allowed and her opinion was not changed upon the sight of it. She had seen some men’s genitalia both on Jakku and since when scouting out the more reputable parts of the galaxy on small missions. They had always seemed obscene things that warranted her turning away. Yet Ben’s did not inspire that. His seemed almost lovely. Which was a ridiculous thing as that was the last word any man would want to hear. But it was true.

 

Ben’s nudity was vulnerable and honest and all the better for it. He was well made and beautiful.

 

She knew that it was expected to put their mouths everywhere before the act to heighten the pleasure. Yet Rey wasn’t sure she wanted that. She was breaking her vows, breaking them in spectacular fashion, and a part of her wanted it done. She wanted to be Ben’s and wanted to break the chain of her chastity.

 

Their lips were connected again as Ben settled between her thighs. Rey locked her ankles above his buttocks and met his eyes.

 

_I’m ready. Do it now._

 

Rey had been warned that there was often pain during sex for women so it was with surprise that she felt a pinching feeling along with overwhelming fullness but no pain. She stared up at the ceiling as she processed how she no longer had a virginity to speak of as Ben panted into her neck as he gripped the pillows hard enough to rip them.

 

Rey wondered if he was staying as still as possible to let her grow accommodated or himself.

 

Their movements were stuttered and slow as they finally began to move. Rey had known how inexperienced Ben was from the very beginning. There was never any courtesans to be seen around him and for all the scandal he seemed to attract, there was never a whiff of sexual tales to tell. Rey was the only girl who was ever allowed near him. To know he was as innocent as herself was a consolation. They could learn together.

 

The feeling in her stomach seemed to get warmer as their hips began to slide against a place she had never been able to reach with only her fingers. Soon there was a spot inside her that she had never knew existed; when Ben thrust at a certain angle she gasped in shock and delight.

 

Rey and Ben kept their eyes trained on one another as the tingle began to spread. In a moment when it began to feel overwhelming, Rey reached out with the Force that danced around her. She let out a scream as she experienced the pleasure on Ben’s side and the visions that had tormented her for so long came to her mind so clear it was like she was there.

 

The flowered fields of Naboo, the little houses, the children laughing as they tried to catch fish in the lake and far back watching was Rey with Ben. Both older and smiling. Talking and laughing before sharing a kiss.

 

Their home. Their family. Their love.

 

Rey opened her eyes and looked up at the Ben of her present. His eyes were shining; he’d seen it too.

 

* * *

 

They lay together in silence as the sun began to filter through into the bedroom with the beginning of a new day. Neither wanted to move from their position. It meant facing the world that they lived in.

 

Rey didn’t know what she would do. She didn’t know how they could make this work without deception and disgrace. But she knew that she could never go back now. In the meantime, she would rest on her love’s chest and let the sun streak through the blinds onto the bed.


End file.
